Analysing Darkness and Light

Dystopias and Beyond
Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-90-04-51554-3
Verlag: World Bank Publications

Buch, Englisch, Band 31, 216 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 496 g

Reihe: Social and Critical Theory

The book situates itself in the fields of philosophy, political theory, aesthetics and theories of art, linking its discussions of fictional dystopias to debates on ongoing crises. It asks: Are dystopias a useful tool for imagining ways out of sombre situations or do they prevent us from engaging in transformative action? The book consists of a thorough introduction and three major sections: 1. Dystopias of Meaninglessness, 2. Techno-Euphoria vs. Terror of Technology, and 3. Dystopias Come True?

The individual chapters discuss, among other things, liberalism and conservatism, “luxury communism”, pandemics, technology-induced anxiety, empty speech, ethics, film, literature, architecture and music.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Heikkilä, Martta

Weitere Mitwirkende

Heikkilä, Martta

Poleshchuk, Irina

Ruonakoski, Erika

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologische Theorie, Psychoanalyse Philosophische Psychologie, Logotherapie, Existenzanalyse
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ästhetik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophische Psychologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

Notes on Contributors

Introduction: Dystopias and Beyond

Martta Heikkilä, Irina Poleschuk and Erika Ruonakoski

PART 1: Dystopias of Meaninglessness

1 Waiting for Catastrophe in the Dark: Public Obscurity and Viktor Pelevin’s Homo Zapiens

Ari-Elmeri Hyvönen

2 Work and Play: the Dystopic Environments in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil

Martta Heikkilä

3 A Brave New World in the Making: Fully Automated Luxury Communism as a Political Dystopia

Joonas Martikainen

PART 2: Techno-Euphoria vs. Terror of Technology

4 Thematising Technological Dystopias and Anxiety through Hans Blumenberg

Michal Wieczorek

5 The Limits of Control: Industrial Dystopias and Techno Utopias in Mika Vainio’s Music

Janne Vanhanen

6 Can the Future Be Cancelled? On the Technological Dystopia in Melanie Gilligan’s The Common Sense

Saara Hacklin

PART 3: Dystopias Come True?

7 The Liberal Dystopia: Joseph de Maistre’s Grim Visions on the
Enlightenment and Democracy

Marianne Sandelin

8 Ethical Temporality, Justice, and Dystopia of Being-for-the-Other:

Between Ethics and Politics

Irina Poleshchuk

9 Experiential Shifts in the covid-19 Pandemic: from the Epoche to
Interspace and “Normality”

Erika Ruonakoski

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Martta Heikkilä obtained her Ph.D. in aesthetics in 2007 at the University of Helsinki, where she is now a researcher and an adjunct professor. She is the author of Deconstruction and the Work of Art (2021).

Irina Poleshchuk earned her doctorate in practical philosophy in 2010 at the University of Helsinki, where she is a senior researcher. Her most recent publications include “Lived Body in Pain” (2022) and “Temporality of Maternity, Chronic Pain, and Ethics” (2021).

Erika Ruonakoski obtained her Ph.D. in theoretical philosophy in 2011 at the University of Helsinki, where she continues as senior researcher in practical philosophy. She is the author of Sisters of the Brotherhood: Alienation and Inclusion in Learning Philosophy (2023).